It’s no question the 2014 season was the year for Michigan State basketball.

Head coach Tom Izzo knew it. Players knew it. Fans knew it.

Simply put, the 2014 Spartans were a deep, veteran team poised for a run at a National Championship. Couple this with the fact that Izzo wasn’t seeing much success in the recruiting field, and it seemed the 2014 squad would be the best collection of talent he’d see for a while in East Lansing.

But with each injury the season brought on and with each miss by Izzo on the recruiting landscape, fans began to grow weary as the 2014 season began to look more like the last ditch effort of a program headed for mediocrity than the very same one that had started the season with so much promise.

However, after dealing with the injuries for the majority of the year, Izzo still found a way at the end of the season to bring his guys back together, as the Spartans went on to win the Big Ten tournament and come within one game of advancing to Izzo’s seventh Final Four appearance.

And now, two months after the the Spartan’s roller coaster 2013-14 season has come to end, one in which many Spartan fans may always look back on and label it as the “what could have been” season, by no means does this mean the MSU basketball program is on the decline.

Yes it’s true the Spartans will head into next season without three of last year’s starters as Keith Appling, Gary Harris and Adreian Payne will all try their hands at the next level.

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And yes it would also be true to say that Izzo has missed out on a lot of his top targets in recruiting the past couple of years, which includes the likes of Jabari Parker, Cliff Alexander, Tyler Ulis and Jahlil Okafor.

But the guys Izzo wound up with in his 2014 class aren’t exactly slouches either.

Point guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn from Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Air, Kan. was often regarded as one of the fastest players and top 100 prospects in the country, while high school teammate Marvin Clark overcame all sorts of adversity to stand out as a high school basketball star at Sunrise.

As for Izzo’s other 2014 get, in a mini-documentary on YouTube about MSU recruit Javon Bess, legendary Ohio high school basketball coach VictorDandridge says of Bess that Michigan State is “getting a steal” with him and that he’s “the best high school player in the state of Ohio.”

In addition, with the way 2015 signee Deyonta Davis of nearby Muskegon has been skyrocketing up the recruiting boards as of late, as well as the commitment from 2015 Ohio swing man Kyle Ahrens last Friday, the state of MSU hoops is looking solid for years to come.

Lastly, as long as Izzo’s at the helm in East Lansing, you can never truly count the Spartans out.

When it’s all said and done, though, yes the Spartans may take a step back next year - happens when you lose three marquee players after one season. However, this MSU basketball program, much like it has been for the better part of the past 19 years, is in good hands.